Qatar Hotel Deploys Integrated IP Video Surveillance System

The 5-star, 350 room, 26-floor hotel is housed in a futuristic building located at the entrance to the prestigious West Bay Area, a booming trade district, only 15 minutes drive from Doha International Airport.

The 116 camera system, which was installed by IndigoVision’s local approved partner Capital Technology WLL, is seamlessly integrated with the GE Secure Perfect access control system using ‘Control Center’, IndigoVision’s enterprise IP Video and alarm management software.

Four workstations running ‘Control Center’ are used by the security team to monitor live and recorded video from the cameras and to manage alarms from the CCTV and access control systems, both of which are integrated over the IP network. IndigoVision’s compression technology means that high-quality, full-framerate video can be delivered over the IP network with minimal bandwidth overhead, allowing the IP video and access control system to share the network with other services such as IP-TV, IP-Telephony, guest Internet and IT.

The tight integration of CCTV and access control brings many benefits to the hotel, helping to improve the overall efficiency of the monitoring operation and to speed up incident response. Through the use of a ‘Control Center’ integration module, the access control system can drive the CCTV system using events and alarms.

For example if the access control system detects an attempted intrusion an alarm is sent to ‘Control Center’ which in turn automatically displays the relevant camera for that area, bookmarks the recorded video and initiates a full alarm management procedure. Similarly, it is possible to lock a door remotely from a click of a mouse on a ‘Control Center’ map screen.

‘Control Center’ is the obvious place to consolidate alarms from various systems as the CCTV operator interface is the most often used. IndigoVision has developed integration modules for the most widely used access control, intruder detection and building management systems around the world. This makes the company’s IP video system an open-architecture solution that can provide true integration. In addition ‘Control Center’ software is licensed on a per seat basis free of charge, allowing workstations to be deployed anywhere on the network for no more than the cost of an entry-level PC.

DVD quality video from all cameras is recorded continuously on three NVRs for 30 days. Advanced features in ‘Control Center’ allow recorded video to be quickly searched and incidents identified. Evidential quality video clips of the incident can then be exported for use by the police if required.